VoiceWriters

VoiceWriters
By: Renee Cohen and Barbara Berkovich __renee.ca@gmail.com__ & bberkovichco@aol.com 




 * Instructional Objective **

Players (learners) will be introduced to the career of voice writing, and have the opportunity to assess and improve their skill in repeating spoken phrases which they have just heard. ** Context of Use **

The //Voice Writers// game would be used in an academic setting in the context of preparing students to enter the field of commercial voice writing, also known as captioning. The students of voice writing typically include: 2-4 players place game pieces on the Start/Finish Square. Play advances around the board with players alternately reading and repeating phrases associated with common voice captioning job sites. Successful completion of a phrase earns the player a monetary reward. The player with the most money at the end of the game wins. From an educational standpoint, the object of the game is to expose potential candidates to the career field and recruit those that show proficiency in the skill set needed. For aspiring voice writers, the game offers practice drills for repeating phrases of speech.
 * High achieving high school students
 * University students
 * Adults looking to change career paths, for example vocational rehabilitation clients
 * Object of the Game **


 * Game Materials**

//Game Board// // Phrase Cards // – four sets, color coded to indicate the context of the speech that's likely to be heard (educational, courtroom, internet, or television). Each card has a $50 phrase and a $100 phrase of higher difficulty. //Game pieces// - for each player to move around the board //Die// – to determine first player, and advance game pieces around the board //Game Money// - in $20, $50, $100, and $500 denominations // Recording/Playback device // (handheld)


 * Time to Play Game**

The game can be played in about 30 minutes by 2 players. Additional players would increase the play time. The game board is easily set up by unfolding it from the box. The four sets of cards are placed in each center of the board on their corresponding colors. The kitty holds the game money sorted by denomination. A $500 bill from the game money is placed under the Bonus Corner. Test the recording/playback device to see if operational.
 * S** ** etup **


 * Rules of the Game**

Highest roller starts, and the play advances with a roll of a single die. When a player lands on a colored square, he or she draws a card from the corresponding phrase card pile (Education, Television, Internet, or Courtroom). The player then hands the card to an opponent without looking at it, and indicates whether the opponent should read the $50 or the $100 question. The opponent reads the phrase for that value. The player then repeats the phrase into the recording device. When the recording is played back the repetition will be judged “successful” if the player repeated the phrase without changing the meaning. The repetition does not need to match word-for-word, but the facts, names and ideas must remain unchanged. Any errors in //names//, //numbers//, or //dates// would be considered “unsuccessful”. If the player successfully repeats the phrase, then he or she may collect the monetary value of the phrase from the kitty. If the phrase was not repeated successfully the player gets no money. The next player rolls the die and play continues as described above. // “Perfection Bonus” // If the player repeats a phrase verbatim (no changes in wording) then he or she is entitled to a $20 “Perfection Bonus” // “Challenge Play” (for 3-4 players) // If a player’s repetition of a phrase is unsuccessful, then any opponent who did not read the phrase card may call out a “Challenge Play”. Without any further repetition of the phrase by the reader, the Challenger may attempt to repeat the phrase successfully. If achieved, the challenger collects the value of the question from the kitty, with the “Perfection Bonus” if applicable. If the original repetition was successful, but not verbatim, the Challenger may attempt to repeat the phrase word-for-word to collect the “Perfection Bonus”. // Penalty/Bonus corners // If a player lands on a corner square, they must follow the directions on the square - no phrase cards are read. // Ending the Game // The first player to reach the Finish must repeat a phrase correctly from any of the phrase categories. If successful, that player collects the value of the phrase, and the game ends. If not, play continues until the player on the Finish square successfully repeats a phrase from any of the categories. The player with the highest earnings at the end of the games wins. // Punctuation Bonus // Trained Voice Writers speak the punctuation into the transcript. A $20 “Punctuation Bonus” could be added for players who wish to practice this skill, or the players could agree at the beginning of the game to play “with punctuation”. // Single player practice. // Using the recording/playback device, a single player could practice individually with the phrase cards, using the recorder to check the accuracy of the repetitions. This could be done with or without the use of money for scoring//.// // Additional Phrase Card Categories // Extension packs of phrase cards could be developed for additional work environments such as legal applications, medical environments, insurance, technical or military work. // Language Extensions // Foreign language extension phrase cards could be developed to allow players to practice repetition of (Spanish-Spanish) or translation of (Spanish-English, English-Spanish) foreign language phrases. **  Design and Development Process: ** As the captioning industry emerges, the shortage of service providers continues to grow. In designing this game, the first ideas were to introduce a fun way to recruit more qualified individuals to the field. The training for captioners is based on gaining the skill of transcribing the words of others at progressively faster speeds. This pattern led to the thought of making a pyramid that game players would need to climb up in order to succeed. However, there was no real connection between the word pyramid and the actual learning that goes on in the field so that idea was abandoned. As the content analysis was fleshed out, the game type became more of a race to the finish, rather than a climb to the top. The player who succeeds in getting to the finish line first could be the winner. But ultimately, the player with the most money becomes the winner. This design element was used to keep the suspense or challenge active throughout the duration of the game. In the design of this game, a subject matter expert was used for most of the substantive information. Professional experience and actual transcripts were used to develop the game cards. The various functions for the job skill and venues of the career were also developed in the same manner. The initial game test was conducted by the two designers. During that play test, the designers learned approximately how long it would take for two people to play the game. In addition, several features of the game were modified. For example, the four venues were adjusted to more accurately reflect the environments they were intending to depict. A decision was made to use Scrabble letters for the game pieces to move around the board. The idea of using a recording device to playback the spoken words was determined to be another useful attribute to include. During the classroom play testing, the designers were able to observe two people play the game without much assistance at all. It appeared to be a fairly fast moving game and therefore relatively enjoyable. The players seemed to like the option of taking the challenge to earn more money as the game progressed. One player did not succeed with the harder question at first, then went back to the easier play. As his opponent continued to do well with the more difficult phrases, and earned larger sums of money, the first player regained his confidence and also took the challenges again. Some ideas the designers considered for future games include the ability to record and replay more easily. The handheld device is a little cumbersome, but definitely functional. It is hoped that this game will be adapted to the eGame Project that is also part of the course work for this semester.
 * Variations and Extensions**
 * Game type: **
 * Some examples of the game elements are listed below: **
 * movement through space or time – moving game pieces around the board, handling money and playing cards
 * shortcuts - taking the challenges in terms of the $100 question, or challenging opponents on the bonus areas
 * obstacles – random roll of the die can land players on the corners, which are lost turns (or another bonus)
 * patterns of elements as goals – knowledge and skill with repetition will help adept players earn more money
 * elements with differing levels of power or value – each game space has two different elements of power, $50 or $100
 * choices and decisions – players need to choose which card to play in response to other players’ moves and their own skill level
 * variations in risk – there are two levels of skill on cards of each type, so using some strategy to play the game is helpful in getting ahead, as well as the random corner spaces
 * changing environments – four venues on the game board
 * random or uncontrolled events – three of the four corners of the game board offer random risks and opportunity by landing on the square after a random roll of the die
 * Background Information: **
 * Play Testing **

 Voice Writers Game Content Analysis